The first and very important step for planning industrial and commercial uses meeting the requirements of noise protection is to keep track of the expected noise pollution from the planned installation.

It is recommended to consult the ordinance on installations subject to licensing (4th Federal Immission Control Ordinance) (available in German) and the included index of types of installations assigned to the different procedures (subject to licensing in a formal or simplified procedure, not subject to licensing) and to look for comparable cases. The list of required clearances within the Clearance Decree (Abstandserlass) by the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia or the within the Guideline on Clearances (Abstandsleitlinie) by the Land of Brandenburg give indications for the noise impacts which must be expected from intended uses.

If an inventory of complaints regarding immission control is available, it is useful to verify whether comparable types of installations have already caused noise disturbances and which urban development conditions were relevant in these situations. Acoustic inventories and expert opinions in the context of similar plans as well as noise maps and noise inventories - if available - can also be analyzed and assessed. Sound level measurements at existing model installations can help to collect quantitative information on the noise potential of a planned commercial or industrial settlement in important and often controversial cases.

Finally it should be possible to establish, also on the basis of life experience, a hierarchy of the installations which are to be settled in a development area according to their noise potential. What this hierarchy must particularly take into account is the volume of development traffic as well as the traffic on and around the company site from suppliers, transports and the handling of goods.

Recent noise measurements provide information on the urgency and priority of sanitation measures, e.g. the necessary relocation of a disturbing company, in the context of the excess planning of conflict situations.